I've found a Vietnamese restaurant, Indochine, near my station, Myogadani, it is opposite the station on Kasugadori toward Korakuen. I hardly ever go that direction, since my gym is the other direction toward Otrsuka. I've passed it before, but didn't give it much notice until I stumbled over a reference to it on the net. It is quite authentic, however, a little expensive.
These fried spring rolls filled with shrimp are just like I remember from Vietnam, however, they work out to more than $1 a piece-which I think is a bit dear.
I've never had these noodles before, but they looked tasty in the menu. They remind me of Tan Tan Ramen, which is a spicy noodle soup from the Schezuan province in China which is near Vietnam. The soup has chilis and gorund chicken and beef with a type of noodle that I am unfamiliar with. It was very thin, soft and not so long. It's not a glass noodle and it's not like any of the Japanesne ramen style noodles. This was much more reasonably priced. I washed it down with ba-ba-ba beer, which is 333 Beer. So all the Vietnamese I know is a number.
You might be interested to know that Koreans have taken a liking to certain Vietnamese foods because of their time in the Vietnam war. They make their own spring roles (not fried - a variety of veggies and a little meat wrapped in rice paper with a fish sauce), and they really like a particular kind of meat based soup noodles. The Vietnamese restaurants in our area advertise this last dish in Korean.
Posted by: Edward | December 05, 2005 at 10:41 AM